John Edwards of Denbighshire (Feb. 8, 1683 - Mar. 6, 1757)

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Look around Edwards genealogy on the internet and you'll see this claim:

John Edwards

b. Feb. 8, 1683 Denbighshire, Wales

d. Mar. 6, 1757 Rockingham County (or Spotsylvania County, etc.), Virginia

Usually this person is said to be married to someone called "Jane Everington (Arrington)."

He is sometimes associated with the Cherry Grove Plantation of King William County, Virginia, which according to Peyton Neale Clark was founded by Ambrose Edwards around 1745. Clark makes no mention of a John Edwards in this generation.

Let me assure you, this John Edwards never existed. He is a confusion of at least two different historical men named John Edwards:

1. Dr. John Edwards (c.1685 - 1743) who owned land in Westmoreland, Spotsylvania and King George Counties in the early 18th century. He is believed to have been married to a Jane Arrington. His estate was probated by Anne Edwards and a possible relative of hers, Richard Tutt, on December 2, 1743 in King George County, Virginia.

2. John Edwards of Haverhill, Massachusetts (c.1683 - Mar. 6, 1757), immigrant from Wales to New Hampshire c.1710. Husband of Lydia Crockett. They married in 1712 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and had sons John and Nathaniel. After her death he married Elizabeth Crockett. See this link to view a transcript of John Edward's death. Remember the Julian calendar date difference.

Edwards Heirs "researchers" confused these two men in their genealogical ramblings at some point and they have been mushed together into a single, fictitious man ever since.

Please see The Descendants of Meredith Edwards for an exhaustive study of the Virginia man.

And see A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of John Edwards for the Massachusetts family.

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